Albany, NY - HDTV - Page 157

I am surprised that the signal on 45 (43) seems unchanged up here. I just got my 8 bay uhf antenna back up today, (it went down in that last big snow storm we got about 3 weeks ago). I had replaced it, temporarily, with a lower gain BT broadband UHF, which is a real tough antenna but very little gain. I know how fickle these digital signals are on the deep fringe, so I am keeping my fingers crossed, but I am encouraged so far. I look forward to the day when the new transmitter is in service.

You're welcome.

The full power transmitter was turned on at about 11 AM Sunday morning, April 3rd.

Looks real good up here! locked, and right in line with WMHT in signal level. I could not be happier! Thanks Fred

Chief Fred,

Thanks for the update. I haven't checked CW45 since Saturday, but on Saturday it was actually producing a watchable signal (although a weak one ~25%) here in Poughkeepsie. I'll check again when I get in later tonight. I'm looking forward to a big improvement.

I just checked CW45 and the signal is great. It's coming in at ~65%, which puts it among my strongest channels. It is now comparable to WTEN and WMHT, both of which are consistently very watchable.

WRGB-6 is still a little marginal at around 35%. At this level the signal is watchable (almost no drop outs), but tends to degrade in bad weather or when there is local interference (someone flipping a light switch or certain cars driving by).

Now if only, someone would fix WNYT and WXXA. I can get the former, although the signal breaks up a lot. I can't even get a wiff of the latter signal. I suspect WABC may be interfering, since it does come in occasionally (normally the signal is ~10% and fails to lock at all).

I am now getting WCWN at about 40 - 50 % SS, but it is not locked on. Goes from 4-5 bars down to zero and then back on. This is a vast improvement, but still not watchable. When it warms up a little I'll have to do some tweaking with my antenna pointing.

CoolTV just signed a agreement with Newport TV for carriage in 10 of their markets. Any speculation of WXXA throws CoolTV on 23.3?

We used to have a video channel on 45.3 WCWN, but it went under.
Why do you speculate that WXXA would carry this?

Because as the last poster said CoolTV signed an agreement to be added to 10 of Newport's stations. Newport owns WXXA. So it's possible (but unknown at this point) WXXA is one of the 10.

Ahhh

I'm willing to speculate about The Cool TV appearing on 23-2.

- Trip

So they would drop Untamed Sports from 23.2?

Yep.

- Trip

My signal seems to have improved a bit with it showing fairly steadily now. Overall much improved over what we had before the upgrade. TV tuners seem to be having not much trouble locking on it. Dish Sat OTA tuner: had to add it manually to VIP722, VIP612 couldn't see it though. Might have to look into the line going to that tuner and make some adjustments. Signal is split about 8 ways after it comes in the house. Using CM 7777 preamp and a 4 port dist amp. Split to 5 HDTV's, 2 sat OTA tuners and 3 radios for FM.

Greetings

I posted a while back about reception in Rhinebeck 12572.

I have since moved house.

Here is my new TV Fool



I can now also put an antenna anywhere I want

I would appreciate advice on what antenna to get

Also, how realistic would it be to pull in NYC stations?

Thanks!

Your antenna height is set at 6ft.
Where it asks you for your address there is a spot for antenna height.
You know you can at least get the height of your chimney.
This may get you out of that 1 edge situation.
Keep going higher just to see how high the tower need be.
Post the results back here.
Maybe with a huge tower you could try for the city.

80 miles away from NYC is a longshot.
Even still, you are 52 miles away from Albany. You should concentrate to see if you get those stations first.
As I mentioned in a previous post, get a big antenna from Radio Shack and try it out. Put it outdoors and run a short piece of coax to the TV as a test.
If the antenna can't pick up much, at least you can return it.
I have an old Radio Shack VU-190XR at my place in Middleburgh, and last time I was there, these were my readings on my strength meter on the tv.

At 20 miles away:

WRGB 6 @ 92%
WTEN 10 @ 67%
WNYT 13 @ 82%
WMHT 17 @ 87%
WXXA 23 @ 72%
WCWN 45 @ 61%

WKTV 2 @ 50% With antenna rotated NE

My house is pretty high up on the mountain. This is just to give you a general idea what reception is like.

Here is my tvfool report. Even though I'm close, I have 2 edge reception.
http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...8d17c98fd060ae

thanks all, for the replies

a quick question about TV Fool/antenna height?

when you use coordinates to locate your house, does it take into account elevation? ie-- I am on top of a hill-- does TVF know that? compared to my neighbors, I have a 100ft antenna

I just found an enormous 10ft+ [disconnected] antenna on the property

It was on a motorised base-- anyone know what it is, please? Or if its worth using? [see thumbnail]

Thanks!

No, the VHF elements are broken. That's typical of the Radio Shack VU-190.

Consider a Winegard HD 7082P, and try to get it on the roof. Next add an AP-8700 preamp.

I was going to say, that looks exactly like my antenna, a VU-190 with a rotor.

The antenna is shot.
Don't know about the rotor, you have to bench test it. It operates on low voltage.

If anyone is interested in having an AVS get together in the Albany area at some point, I created a thread in the "Area Home Theater Meets" forum here: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1328508

I apologize if this is not the most on topic post, but figured that I was at least half on topic! Thanks.

thanks all, for the replies

I looked up the Winegard, but the range quoted wont reach Albany?

THanks very much

Hi Benway, the ranges listed on Antenna Specs are meaningless, so don't put too much stock into those. The 7082P is pretty good and should pull in most of the Albany stations for you. If you're serious about trying for NYC stations, you could try out the Winegard HD 8200U, which at least on paper is slightly better.

I can pull in the NYC VHF stations (7,11,13) down here in Poughkeepsie with a YA-1713 mounted in my attic, so there is at least a chance you could get them up there with a large outdoor antenna. Note that I get 11 very reliably, 13 somewhat reliably, and 7 very intermittently, which doesn't really line up with my TV fool report, so take that with a grain of salt as well.

For UHF I've got the Antenna's direct C4, which does quite well in my attic for the Albany UHF stations and occasionally pulls in a NYC station or two (WNJU, WNYE) off of the back. For some reason I struggle to get the Albany VHF stations (except WRGB).

You'll gain a bit if you put it on the roof and you can eliminate line losses with a preamp. With those assumptions, the signal strengths on TVfool dictate the required gain of the antenna. The HD7082P has enough gain margin in your location.

Your potential problem will be interference on channel 7 from WABC interfering with WXXA. The F/B ratio of the HD7082P on channel 7 is 13 db. The slightly larger HD7084P is rated at 19 db F/B ratio on channel 7. The even larger HD8200U has 17 db F/B ratio on channel 7.

thanks all, for the replies, again

Is the 7082 really 9' long?

I am not really bothered about the lo vhf channels-- ie CBS. Does that mean I can get a smaller antenna? I do still want a combo uhf/vhf though

THanks again for your help

The Winegard 7-69 HD7496P has the same gain on UHF as the HD7082P. The boom length of the HD7496P is 110.75", or 1/4" longer than the HD7082P.

A shorter boom alternative is a CS-600 for VHF and a 4 bay UHF (multiple manufacturers). That changes the preamp to a dual VHF/UHF input preamp such as the Winegard AP-2870 or the Channel Master 7777 or 7778.
When selecting the CS-600 expect problems with reception of WXXA and a greater frequency of dropouts on the other VHF channels.

I will vouch for the VHF performance of the HD8200. My VHF performace on WRGB, WNYT and WXXA is close to 100% signal strength in any kind of weather. I am a similar distance to tower as benway. I do not have potential interference from NYC here though. I do not use the antenna for UHF, but I would assume it is excellent as well. It is 14 ft boom, but mounts on a standard boom and tripod on my roof with no problems.

TheCoolTV has replaced untamed sports on 23.2 and the display now says 23-CT

They are playing 80s videos in what appears to be the 80s at 8. I'm assuming that after this hour the videos will be more - contemporary?

Sorry to see Untamed Sports gone from 23-2. It was unique, no other local OTA stations cater to outdoor sportmen of all sorts, fishing, hunting, boating, snowmobiling etc...

thanks all, for the replies and info/knowledge

I used to be able to get a few UHF channels with a silver sensor [inside] which is about a foot long, when I was 3 miles closer to Albany.

is there nothing about 3-6ft long vhf/uhf combo that will work?

thanks